Justify Govet investment in State Media - Botwe

Accra, Aug. 16, GNA - State-Owned Media have been urged to help in information dissemination of Government policies and programmes towards improved standard of living to justify investments in them. Mr Dan Botwe, Minister of Information, made the appeal when he interacted with the staff of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) at Sekondi on Monday.

A statement Mr D. A. Kwapong, Acting Director of Information, signed in Accra on Tuesday said the Minister stressed that the people, who elected the Government to manage the affairs of the nation had the right to know what their leaders were doing to improve their living conditions.

"It is therefore the duty of the media, especially the state-owned media, to convey information on socio-economic development to the people to justify Government's investment in their institutions."

Mr Botwe said the Government would not interfere with the editorial contents of any state-owned media, but would ensure that the "real dividend of their investments are realised", through information dissemination.

He said the Ministry of Finance; Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and the Ministry of Information were consulting on improved salary structure for GBC as a step towards improving their working conditions.

"When these are done, the people of Ghana will expect nothing short of improved programmes and wider coverage areas. It is for this reason that an upward adjustment of TV licence fee demanded by GBC will be necessary, he said.

Mr Botwe was not happy with the Corporation's revenue mobilization and appealed to the staff to redouble their efforts.

He said a lot of things could be done, while the refurbishment and efforts at improving their conditions were underway.

Mr Frank Moachia, Acting Regional Director and GJA Regional Chairman, said the installation of 5,000 watts transmitters at Sekondi to replace the 500 watts transmitter under the Rhodes and Schwartz Projects had improved transmission considerably. Later at a press reception at Takoradi, Mr Botwe reiterated that the Government's repeal of the Criminal Libel Law was to enable journalist to operate freely.

Those present at the function were Papa Owusu Ankomah and Mr Joe Ghartey, both Members of Parliament of the area.